Ludovico Il Moro, on a Balais Ruby, ten lines in diameter, about this period, or a little later.

Pietro Maria, da Pescia in Tuscany, worked at Rome for Leo X. He was the friend of M. Angelo.

Michelino also flourished there at the same time.

Matteo dei Benedetti, died 1523, was a celebrated gemengraver of Bologna, and is praised by Achillini in his 'Viridario.'

Francia the painter, of the same city, is also said to have worked in this line.

Marc. Attio Moretti also flourished there about 1495. He is praised by Achillini, and invited by Io. Baptist. Pio, in a Latin elegy (1509), to engrave the portrait of his Chloris.

Caradosso of Milan, and his assistant Furnius of Bologna, are placed by Pomponius Gauricus (at the beginning of the sixteenth century) on a level with Pyrgoteles and Dioscorides.

Severo da Ravenna is however set above all others by this writer, who styles him sculptor, scalptor, cælator. He is probably the scholar of Marc. Antonio who engraved the copperplates with the monogram S. R.

Leonardo da Milano, mentioned with praise by Camillo Leonardo, is probably Da Vinci, the universal genius who, besides goldsmith's work, may have tried his powers in this branch of art.8

Jacopo Tagliacarne of Genova is supposed to have engraved the numerous portraits of Genoese nobles of that age, which it was then the fashion to use as seals.

Henri Engelhart of Nurnberg, a friend of A. Durer's, was famous for engraving coats-of-arms on gems.

Gio. Bernardi di Castel Bolognese, engraved for Duke

I have seen an enamelled pen- certainly does bear his usual monodant jewel ascribed to Da Vinci; it

gram.

Alfonso of Ferrara the attack on the Fort of Bastia, where the latter had been dangerously wounded. He also cut the dies for the medals of the same prince. Paulus Jovius persuaded him to go to Rome, where he was patronised by the Cardinal Ippolito dei Medici and Clement VII., for whom he executed several medals, highly commended by Cellini himself, as well as many intagli on gems. After the death of the Cardinal in 1535, he entered the service of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, grandson of Paul III., for whom he executed numerous intagli, chiefly in Rock Crystal, in which he worked with great facility. Some of these are still to be seen (1750) set in a cross and two candlesticks of silver, presented by the Cardinal to St. Peter's. On the foot of each are three circular intagli representing different scenes from the life of Christ, the designs for which were probably furnished by the painter, Perin del Vago. His best pieces were a Tityus torn by the Vulture, now in the Strozzi Cabinet, and the Fall of Phaeton, both made for Cardinal Ippolito from the designs of M. Angelo. Another celebrated work of his was his portrait of the Duchess Margaret of Austria, wife of Ottavio Farnese. He died (1555) at Faenza, whither he had retired upon his fortune: aged sixty.

Matteo del Nazaro of Verona worked in France for Francis I. He had been pupil of Avanzi and Mondella, both Veronese gem-engravers, the former of whom was famed at Rome for his camei and Carnelian intagli; and a Nativity by him, on Lapis-lazuli, had been sought after by Isabella Gonzaga, Duchess of Urbino, the first patroness of Raffaele. Matteo's first work of note was a Crucifixion on Bloodstone, so managed that the spots of the stone represented the blood issuing from the wounds, and which became the property of Isabella d'Este of Mantova. At the French Court he chiefly engraved camei, the fashionable ornament of the day. A head of Deianira by

him was greatly admired, in which the various layers of the Agate gave the different colours of the flesh, the hair, and the lion's hide drawn over her head. He also executed for Francis a portable Oratory adorned with numerous gems, and bas-reliefs and statuettes in gold. He set so high a value on his works that he gave them away as presents rather than submit to what he considered too low an offer; and is said to have broken to pieces a fine cameo which had not been accepted by a nobleman under such circumstances. After the battle of Pavia he returned to Verona with his fortune; but was recalled to Paris by Francis immediately upon the recovery of his freedom, was made Head Engraver to the Mint, and died at Paris soon after the King, in 1547.

Gio. Giacomo Caraglio, also of Verona, at first a copperplate engraver, then of gems and medals; worked for Sigismond I., King of Poland, in 1539, at whose court he was still living in 1569.

Valerio dei Belli, Il Vicentino, engraved equally camei and intagli on all kinds of gems; but, according to the fashion of the age, his most numerous works are on Rock Crystal. He also cut dies for medals, both modern and copies of the antique. He was looked upon as the head of the numerous engravers who flourished at Rome under Clement VII., before the sack of that city. This Pope paid him 2000 gold scudi for the Crystal coffer adorned with scenes from the Passion, and which he presented to Francis I. at his interview with him at Marseilles on the occasion of the marriage of his niece Caterina dei Medici to the Dauphin. Besides this, a cross and several Crystal vases by this artist were presented to the church of San Lorenzo at Florence by Clement. He afterwards was employed by Paul III and the Cardinal Farnese. No engraver has ever been so industrious or so expeditious as Valerio, and his works were long employed as models by all

the Italian goldsmiths. He retired to Vicenza with an ample fortune, but continued to work at his profession down to the very close of his life in 1546. A daughter also of his had been instructed by him in the art, in which she attained considerable distinction.

Marmita the Elder, of Parma, a painter, engraved many gems after the antique. Luigi Marmita, his son, however, greatly surpassed him; and in the service of Cardinal Salviati at Rome was distinguished at a period when nothing mediocre would have passed muster there. His most famous work was a cameo head of Socrates; but he abandoned gem-engraving for the more profitable trade of making dies for false antique medals.

Domenico di Polo, of Florence, also a die-sinker, afterwards engraved gems. He had been a pupil of Giovanni delle

Carniole.

Nanni di Prospero delle Carniole is also named by Vasari as a painter, "the son of Prospero the gem-engraver."

Luigi Anichini of Ferrara, but resident at Venice, a diesinker, engraved gems with the greatest delicacy and precision; the smaller their size the more spirit did his intagli display.

Alessandro Cesari, or Cesati (so called in Vasari, first edition), Il Greco, surpassed the latter artist in the excellence of his drawing. Besides coin-dies he also engraved innumerable gems. M. Angelo considered his medal of Paul III. (reverse, Alexander kneeling before the High Priest) as the very perfection of the art, beyond which it was impossible to advance. Vasari names a portrait of Henri II., an intaglio on a Carnelian the size of a half-franc, made for Cardinal Farnese, as one of his best works. M. Crozat possessed a cameo portrait of the same king in very low relief, also on Carnelian, inscribed ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΕΠΟΙΕΙ. Vasari also praises his portraits

9

of P. L. Farnese Duke of Castro, his son Ottavio, and Cardinal Farnese: the last a head in gold on a silver ground. Three camei are also commended-a child, a lion, and a woman naked. But his masterpiece, according to Vasari, was a cameo head of Phocion. This, in 1750, was in the collection of Sig. Zanetti of Venice, and was still regarded as the most exquisite of any works of that kind.

Giovanni Antonio dei Rossi, a Milanese, engraved the largest cameo known since antique times, being seven inches in diameter, with portraits, three-quarters length, of Cosmo I., Eleanora of Toledo, and all the princes and princesses of their family. This work, says Vasari, established the reputation of the artist, already known by a quantity of other engraved

gems.

Misuroni, Gasparo and Girolamo, and Jacomo da Trezzo, all three Milanese, engraved both camei and intagli, but chiefly worked at vases in Agate and Jasper. The last artist was noted for the excellence of his portraits on gems. Marietti cites an admirable head in relief, on Calcedony, of Philip II., by whom he was brought to Madrid. He was employed for seven years in making the Tabernacle of the Escurial, of Agates, Jaspers, and other fine stones, all found in Spain, and was allowed to place his name on the same line with the King's in the dedicatory inscription on the socle of the work. He is said even to have engraved on the diamond.

Clemente Birago, another Milanese, patronised by the same monarch, has however a better claim to this honour. The testimony of both Clusius the botanist (who had known him during his stay in Spain in 1564), and of Lomazzo his countryman, leave no doubt as to the truth of this fact. The work

In the Pulsky Cabinet is a most singular intaglio, a lion in his den, full-faced, on a burnt onyx, inscribed

ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ ΕΠΟΙΕΙ. Can this be the gem praised by Vasari ?